Dictionaries, rockets and towers in the Arab world

Belonging to an era is not like going to the movies. It’s
not enough to buy a ticket to book a seat. The issue is more complex and
difficult to circumvent.

You have no choice but to stand boldly in front of the
mirror, to get rid of some of your illusions and old ideas and to put your
dictionary on the table and examine the vocabulary and concepts that you think
are difficult to change. You must open the door to an internal war within your
thoughts and perceptions, your relationship with time, your community, the
others, and the world.

You will not head to the future if you decide that the past
is better. I don’t claim that the task is easy… that overcoming the burdens of
the past is simple. But the Arab people are now at the turning point and they
have to make a decision. The issue is very serious. It is whether you sleep in
your ancestors’ bed and hide in their dictionary or contribute to building a
world worthy of your grandchildren.

Century after century, we slept on the pillow of similarity
and considered time as just accumulating stones. Many circumstances did not
make our region the arena for promising events. Nothing like the French
Revolution, the Industrial Revolution or the Renaissance. But now the era has
confronted us and dragged us to face the test. Feel the phone inside your
pocket.

It is the greatest traveler, the smartest spy and unyielding
reporter. The world is in your pocket with all the images and sounds, with information
and questions. You have to choose. The poison has leaked into your dictionary.
You shall not look into your grandfather’s drawers for a cure.

There is no choice but to contact the era; no matter how
much effort and rehabilitation you may require. You cannot be a journalist
today in the way you were ten years ago. You cannot be a minister today as you
were ten years ago. The same is true for the officer, the university professor,
the engineer, the governor and the government. Our separation from the era has
cost us nations, cities and seas of human and financial losses… breaking with
facts and the concept of the State and institutions.

Friend from Libya

This is what came to my mind when a friend from Libya
contacted me to comment on Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s interview
with Asharq Al-Awsat. He recalled how Colonel Muammar Gaddafi called Sheikh
Mohammad and expressed his desire for Tripoli to become “a new Dubai” and
Africa’s economic hub.

He said that the construction of a modern city that could
accommodate many nationalities and where people lived under the rule of law
required a mentality that did not exist in the colonel’s system, and
institutions that were not present during his time.

“Some of our countries have fallen into the hands of men who
have a World War II mentality, if not older,” said the man who knows both the
regime and the colonel. “These are selfish men, who don’t know the world and
their real war is that of retaining power. They didn’t reflect on the deep
meaning of the collapse of the Soviet Union – that of never catching up with
the era and failing to improve the people’s living conditions.”

He went on to say: “These regimes were busy with security
and intelligence, not with universities and education. They preferred to buy
and stock missiles instead of getting engaged in rehabilitating the
infrastructure, promoting investments and building towers. They believed that
the citizen could provide his bread and income under the cloak of the regime
and its revolutionary committees.”

He noted that Arab governments are increasingly aware of the
importance of building intra-Arab relations on the basis of mutual interests.
The same strategy has enabled the Europeans to remove the specter of war and
transformed the ancient continent into a prominent player in international
politics and economy.

He expected that the process of reform and modernization
witnessed by Saudi Arabia within the framework of Vision 2030 launched by Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman would have a major impact in the Arab and Islamic
world. He emphasized serious and difficult measures applied by the Egyptian
government to put the economy on the path towards recovery, and the same for
Jordan.

Dubai in Tripoli

He said that if Gaddafi had managed to build Dubai in
Tripoli, both Libya and its leader would not have suffered their current fates.
Had Saddam Hussein built something like Dubai in Baghdad, neither the Iraqi
leader nor his country would have been exposed to such calamities.

But you cannot build a modern city with an old and outdated
dictionary. Tripoli could have now been a city teeming with tourists and
investors and enjoying all the necessary resources. This is also true for
Baghdad. Abandon the old dictionary... The dictionary of fear and domination…
It is clear that our region must engage in two battles simultaneously: the
battle of stability and the quest for prosperity.

The battle of stability aims to restore some balance in the
region, which would allow the preservation of the Arabs’ role and interests,
and enable their countries to take a breath and fight for reform and
modernization. The battle of prosperity must start by adopting a new dictionary
in dealing with the world, the era and the people’s needs and aspirations.

The success of the two battles depends on the ability to
exit the cycle of old fears to enter the circle of strategic partnerships and
the exchange of benefits and expertise.

It is no secret that we need to get out of the old
dictionaries. We need education that awakens the capabilities of Arab students
and enables them to belong to the world of transformation, competition and
innovation. We need an actual developmental effort that positively changes the
conditions of people’s lives, stops the waves of despair that attract young
people and push them on suicidal routes or incite them to abandon home.

We must remember that countries, which have modernized their
dictionaries, have preceded those that adhered to the past; and that countries
that have accumulated developmental achievements are today stronger than those
that stocked rockets. The states that built towers are today more prosperous
than countries that have wasted their time digging trenches.